Common ground
by vespertine dreams
Summary: Written for this prompt on lj: Claudia and Ryan have something in common. They both want Cutter and neither of them is willing to give up on him. Part 2 added. Slash/het-threesome PG rated.
1. Common Ground

Common ground

Claudia just didn't get it. Much of the time it seemed that Nick Cutter was interested in her, those little smiles he flashed her way or the touches he always managed to get in. They had been for drinks a couple of times, just the two of them, and he'd kissed her goodnight after taking her home. He wouldn't have done that unless he was interested, right? And then, earlier, she had been certain that he was about to ask her out again, but that was when _he_ wandered in.

Captain Ryan. Presently standing next to Cutter as the professor showed him something on the computer screen. Ryan made a comment, too quietly for her to hear, and Cutter smiled, nodding. Cutter's arm brushed against Ryan's as they stood close together, closer than they needed to.

She had wondered to begin with if it was just Cutter's way, that maybe she had misinterpreted, but she had been watching him closely and he didn't behave like that around Connor or Abby. Just her and Ryan. He was definitely reacting to Ryan's flirting with him, and whatever Ryan might argue, he was definitely flirting.

Claudia sighed loudly and Cutter looked up as though suddenly remembering that she was there. She tried to think of something important to tell him he had to do, right this minute, to get him away from Ryan, but she came up blank. Making her apologies, she escaped back to her office, casting one last glance at the two men as she left.

It seemed that Ryan was getting in her way at every turn. Just the evening before, they had been sitting in the pub with the team and she and Cutter were at a small table, chatting, and Ryan had somehow ended up as part of the conversation. Then he'd been invited to join them, and despite the fact that Nick's demeanour toward her never altered, it still seemed that Ryan had Nick's attention instead of her.

~.~

Two weeks later, Claudia sat in the passenger seat of the Hilux, the door open as she waited for Stephen, Abby and two of Ryan's men to finish checking the area for creatures while Connor and Nick studied the anomaly. She looked up as Ryan climbed into the driver's seat.

"Everything okay, Captain?"

Ryan sighed. "No problems with the anomaly, if that's what you mean." He glanced across at her. "Have I done something to annoy you?" he asked suddenly.

"No."

"So why have you spent the past few weeks alternately blanking me or scowling at me?"

Claudia swore under her breath, not realising that she'd been so obvious about it. Whatever her personal feelings, she should never have allowed them to interfere with her work, making her behaviour toward Captain Ryan extremely unprofessional.

"So I have done something," he said, studying her reactions. "Look, maybe I'm overstepping my bounds here, but I thought we were friends. Tell me, please."

"You and Cutter seem to be getting along."

Ryan smiled, looking a bit confused by the sudden change in conversation. "We've had a meal, a few beers. He's a pretty cool bloke once he stops being such an insufferable know it all." He paused, frowning. "Is that what this is all about? Nick Cutter?"

"No. Yes. Oh, he's just so bloody infuriating! At first, it seemed as though he was interested in me, and then you and he… Oh, I don't know." She wished now that she hadn't started this. "Can we just forget we ever had this conversation, please?"

But Ryan shook his head. "You fancy him," he teased lightly.

Claudia glanced at him. "And you don't?"

Ryan's smile gave her the answer without him saying a word.

She wanted to ask how far it had gone between them. Ryan had only mentioned dinner and drinks, but that didn't mean there wasn't more; Ryan wasn't exactly the kind of person who would kiss and tell. Had they kissed? Claudia wondered. Nick had kissed her so did that mean that she was still in with a chance? Maybe he and Ryan had progressed beyond a simple kiss. For all she knew, the spent every night together. A small part of her was intrigued by that idea, but the rest of her decided that she was better off not knowing.

"You know, I could remind you of official policy regarding relationships between colleagues," Claudia said. "Especially as you and Nick work as closely as you do."

Ryan grinned. "And I could point out how inappropriate it would be for you to get involved with a man who is regularly under your command."

"I guess it's a good thing that neither of us is that petty then, isn't it?"

Ryan nodded, agreeing.

"Why does it have to be so damn difficult?" she mused. "I finally meet a nice bloke and it has to be someone as confusing as Nick Cutter."

Ryan laughed. "I couldn't have put it better myself."

Claudia glanced across at the soldier. If nothing else, she felt better about having cleared the air between them. "I'm sorry I've been acting like a brat toward you," she told him.

"Sorry I was oblivious as to why you were-" He paused. "Hang on, why are we the ones apologising?"

~.~

Nick Cutter looked up from the pile of papers he was reading through, his bored expression changing to surprise.

"Ryan? Claudia? What's wrong? Is there another anomaly?"

Ryan indicated to the chair in front of Cutter's desk, removing a pile of notes that had been weighted down with a fossilised ammonite so that Claudia could sit, before pulling up another chair for himself.

"Nothing like that, Nick," Claudia assured him. "Ryan and I had a long chat the other day. About you."

At the desk across the room, Stephen looked between Claudia and Ryan and put down the thesis he was reading. He stood, looking amused as he announced that he had an errand to run, but not before giving Cutter a look that told him he wanted to know the whole story when he got back.

"Oh?" Nick looked suspicious now, glancing between them.

"Yes, and we'd like a few answers…"

~.~

end.


	2. Learning to Share

Learning to share

"We'd like a few answers…"

Claudia watched the expressions on Nick's face, eyes widening as he realised what they meant.

"Tell me, Nick," she began. "Did you ever intend to choose, or were you just going to string us both along for ever more?"

"What? No, it wasn't like that."

Ryan folded his arms across his chest. "So what was it?"

Nick sighed, raking his fingers through his hair, leaving it sticking up in all directions.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I know I look like a total bastard at the moment but I promise you I wasn't playing with you. I meant it when I asked you out, Claudia, and I didn't intend to get close to Ryan. It just sort of happened and then I didn't want to give either of you up. I'm sorry."

Claudia glanced at Ryan, the soldier nodding back at her. She believed Nick; besides the fact that the man looked guilty as hell the moment he tried to lie, he really did seem sorry. Maybe it was time they gave him a break.

"Since you can't seem to make up your mind, we'll just have to do it for you," she told him.

"Yes, Nick. From now on, we're making the decisions," Ryan added.

The look on Nick's face had Claudia trying not to laugh; he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a bloody big truck.

"I don't understand-"

Claudia smiled. "That's alright," she told him, leaving him looking even more confused. "Just be at my house tonight for dinner. Six o'clock. You like Italian food, don't you?"

Nick nodded mutely, watching as they both stood.

Claudia followed Ryan out, passing Stephen in the hallway. The other man was lurking near the door, his eyes studying them both curiously but he never asked, even as Claudia informed him it was safe to go back inside.

"That went rather well, I think," she said, linking her arm through Ryan's. "Did you see the look on his face when you told him that we were taking charge? Poor love."

Ryan laughed softly. "He did look a bit shell-shocked, didn't he?" His demeanour turned serious then. "Are you sure about this?"

Claudia paused, turning to face him. "Yes," she said, curling a hand around the back of his neck and pulling him down close enough to press a kiss to his lips.

After a second, Ryan slipped his arms slipped around her waist, holding her close as his lips parted, allowing the kiss to deepen. Eventually, Claudia moved back to look him in the eyes.

"Did that feel like I have any doubts at all about this?" she asked.

It was only as they were talking the other day that they realised that there was a simple solution to this. Neither of them wanted to give up on Nick, nor did they want to step on the other's toes. And it wasn't as though Claudia hadn't thought on more than one occasion just how good looking Ryan was. She'd even considered asking him to dinner when he first arrived at the ARC, but then he had started showing an interest in Nick. It had been a welcome surprise to find out that his interests ran toward male and female, and even more of one that he was interested in her.

"You always seemed so unobtainable," he told her. "I didn't think you'd have the time for someone like me. Then we became friends and I didn't really want to risk messing that up."

So, a plan was hatched and now it all hinged on Nick's reaction when he came to dinner tonight.

~.~

The doorbell rang and Ryan went to answer it as Claudia finished making dinner. After a short silence, she heard Ryan's amused voice ask,

"You going to stand there and gawk all day, or are you coming in?"

Claudia laughed, seeing the surprise on Nick's face as he followed Ryan into the dining room.

"You made it. Fabulous," she told him, going to give him a kiss on the cheek in greeting. She saw him glance uneasily at Ryan as she did so, cheeks flushing slightly. "Its fine, Nick; don't worry so much. Right, dinner will be ready soon so I'll leave you two to it."

She could see them from the kitchen and she watched as Ryan decided that a proper greeting was in order, pulling Nick into a toe-curling kiss. Nick let out an alarmed 'hey!', before lowering his voice and whispering angrily to Ryan. She heard her name mentioned as Ryan gave him the same advice she had.

"Calm down; it's fine."

Looks like we're going to have to have the talk before we eat, she thought, putting dinner back in the oven to keep warm and going back out to join the two men. Nick looked angry, arms folded, glaring at them both.

"Okay, that's enough," he told them. "I get it; I was an arse but this whatever-it-is that you're both playing at stops right now or I'm leaving. I get enough of these stupid mind games from Helen each time she shows up so I don't need it from you two as well."

Claudia glanced at Ryan nervously. Maybe they shouldn't have teased him for this long, just told him straight out. What if he decided to walk away?

"Nick, you've got it wrong; we're not trying to humiliate you or anything like that and I'm sorry if we've taken things too far." She indicated to one of the empty chairs at the dining table. "Please, sit down and we'll explain."

When he was sitting down calmly, Ryan spoke.

"Okay, here it is; we like you, both of us, and we had a long chat the other day and we've realised that we don't want you to choose."

Nick just frowned at them. Claudia saw the confusion on his face and sighed. She was going to have to spell it out, complete with diagrams, before Nick would cotton on.

"We both want you, and each other," she said, "and we hope that you'll want us both, too. The three of us, Nick. Together."

He blinked a couple of times, looked between them, and then smiled. "Really?"

The look on his face reminded Claudia of the expression her nephew got when presented with a rather large Christmas present.

"Yes. Now can we please have dinner? I'm starving," Ryan said, sniffing the air for the aroma of pasta sauce. His stomach grumbled loudly as though to emphasise the point.

As she went into the kitchen to serve, Nick followed. He hovered about nearby until she told him to help or get out of the way.

"Go on, ask."

"Are you really okay with this? I mean, and I don't mean to offend you here, but I never took you for someone who would be comfortable with what you and Ryan are proposing."

Claudia laughed. "Nick, I could tell you stories from my University days that would even make Ryan blush." She handed him a plate to carry. "If I wasn't comfortable with this, I wouldn't have suggested it. Come on, let's go and feed Ryan before he starts gnawing on the table and we can sort all of this out later."

~.~

Claudia awoke as Nick shifted next to her, his nose twitching as a strand of her hair tickled it. His arm was draped over her waist tightening around her as he got comfortable again. On her other side, Ryan lay on his back, snoring softly. Her mind drifted back to their earlier activities, thinking how comfortable it felt with her boys asleep beside her now. Things couldn't have turned out better if she had actually intended this outcome.

At the very least it would get her mother off her back about finding herself a boyfriend… Claudia smiled in the darkness; that was going to be an interesting conversation.

~.~

End.


End file.
